Rumble

Antchaser paused and frowned as he stared down the tunnel. “They’re progressing faster than we expected,” he murmured to himself.

Boarslayer scoffed but didn’t stop her own preparations. “Of course they are. They’re proper Adventurers, unlike the amateurs Bosco brought. A few Rockcaps won’t stop them for long.”

Boarslayer put on a light leather jerkin over her dark grey bodysuit. Such suits had interlocking flexible plates made of an unidentified lightweight material protecting their vitals, and the hunters had started wearing them when not in their full gear. Called ‘civilian disaster armor’ or CDA by Mr. Alpha, the plates were strong enough to withstand Spirit Energy-infused blades and could be comfortably worn under regular clothes.

Antchaser rolled his eyes. “You act like you would have done better alone.”

Boarslayer threw a glob of sticky mud at the smaller goblin, knocking him down. Antchaser sputtered and spat out mud, then stood up, putting on a traveler’s vest over his CDA without bothering to clean it off. They needed to make things look convincing, after all.

“Do you really think this will work?” Boarslayer asked.

Antchaser nodded. “It should. Dr. Maria has confirmed the identity of some expeditionary members through the [Wasp] feed. If what she says is true, then we should be dealing with some of the easier ones. As long as we don’t give anything obvious away, things will go smoothly.”

Boarslayer grunted as she lifted a large glass barrel and threw it into the nearby pond. The barrel sank to the bottom, causing the light in the cavern to flicker and twist in mesmerizing patterns. The pond’s surface returned to its smooth, mirrorlike appearance, and everything became still.

She turned back to Antchaser, looking at the mound of quivering mud beside him. “Let’s hope so,” she muttered. “Hurry up, will you?” She unclipped her twin axes and took her position. She missed her [Megaton], but she couldn’t wield that weapon of mass destruction without her heavy armor.

Antchaser waved her off. “Ya, ya. Now, let’s get this over with.”

—————————————————————

Screeeeeee!

The giant centipede creature fell to the ground, cut in two halves along the length of its body. Its high-pitched screech was nearly drowned out by the sound of combat and the dozen similar cries of pain filling the tunnel. Robert flicked his blade, and the sticky ichor coating it slid off with little resistance, leaving his sword shiny and new, as if it had just been polished.

Around him, half a dozen of the Adventurer bodyguards for the expedition force were fighting their own Rockcaps. The several-meter-long insect spirit beasts weren’t powerful individually, despite being each roughly [Bronze Spirit]. Instead, their numbers and their paralytic venom were what often caught the unaware or the careless off guard.

Thankfully, as the Adventurer’s Guild vanguard for this expedition, those present were all skilled individuals with a track record of handling themselves well in unexpected and dangerous situations.

Even some of the non-combat personnel were getting in on the action, taking turns using various methods to draw out the Rockcaps from their hiding spot and letting their more martially inclined members finish them. Of course, Robert’s three peers — as the core leaders of the expedition — were at the forefront of the battle.

‘Galefist’ Bert lived up to his moniker, as each swing of his giant fist produced a strong enough blast of wind to flutter Robert’s clothes, even from the other side of the tunnel, and splatter any Rockcap across the far wall. The Adventurers had quickly learned to give the man his space, both to avoid being knocked over by the wind and to avoid being splattered with gore.

Maggy stood to one end, laughing maniacally as hundreds of tiny pinpricks of light swarmed around her like angry fireflies. Occasionally, a few would shoot away and bore through anything they touched, Rockcap or stone, leaving glowing holes that radiated heat. As the lead scholar for the expedition, Maggy was technically a non-combatant, but it seemed Garrelt’s little ‘prank’ had gotten to her, so Robert figured it was good to let the young woman work off a little steam.

Speaking of Garrelt, Robert couldn’t help but be impressed with the man. Robert hadn’t gotten the chance to see the man truly let loose on their way here, as Garrelt was often scouting ahead of the primary group. Now that Robert was finally getting to see what his Scout Leader could do, all the rumors of the mysterious so-called ‘Spellblade’ were starting to make sense.

The man flowed between Rockcap and Adventurer like a dancer. Each move was carefully planned and executed, and each time one of his daggers struck, a small magic circle instantly formed at its tip. Instead of piercing through the Rockcap’s thick exoskeleton, the place where the magic circle formed collapsed in on itself—as if struck by some massive hammer.

Robert found it a frankly ingenious solution to the Rockcap’s thick armor, which proved difficult for even him to cut through without the proper angle.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Soon, the battle was over, and dozens of Rockcaps lay strewn about the tunnel in various states of dismemberment. The expeditionary force’s own casualties amounted to only a few cuts and scrapes. Robert raised his sword into the air, and the group let out a roaring cheer. It might not have been a tough fight, all considering, but this was still the kind of thing that Adventurers lived for.

Robert sheathed his sword as Maggy, Bert, and Garrelt approached. As they did, the rest of the expeditionary force cleaned up.

“Well done, everyone,” he said, addressing the other three. “With this, we’re one step closer to our goals. Though one thing still bugs me…”

Bert folded his arms and frowned. “Why were the Rockcaps this far up?” Bert finished Robert’s thought, repeating what he’d mentioned previously.

Garrelt nodded. “It’s not unheard of to see Rockcaps this far up, but not in this kind of number. Typically, you only find them around veins of Spirit Stone, where they can better blend in with their surroundings, and more prey is attracted to the stones. But I don’t see any other signs of a vein around here.”

Maggy was the next to speak. “There are no signs of any Spirit Stones nearby, but I wouldn’t say they’re lacking for prey,” she gestured to the various piles of bones strewn around the tunnel. “That suggests this tunnel is, at the very least, well traveled. But then that begs other questions.”

Robert frowned. “Like why would a tunnel infested with Rockcaps be well traveled by local wide life to begin with?” Maggy nodded.

Garrelt scratched his bearded chin and hummed to himself. “They might not have much of a choice. For as long as this tunnel system is, it doesn’t seem to branch off much. And where it branches off, it leads to mostly dead ends or the dens of other, more dangerous creatures.”

Bert raised an eyebrow. “You think something’s forcing critters up from below?”

“It’s possible,” Garrelt nodded. “It might explain why the Rockcaps are this far up as well. If something pushed them out of their home tunnel, they would have had to follow the same path as everything else. It just happens that this long corridor where everything was passing through made for a suitable nest site for them.”

Robert peered down deeper into the tunnel. “What do you think could do something like that?”

Garrelt shrugged. “Not enough information yet to say for sure, though I have a few ideas. At the very least, it suggests something highly territorial. That doesn’t narrow things down by much, but it gives me an idea or two.”

Robert nodded. “Understandable. I just don’t want to —“

Robert’s words were cut off as all four Adventurer’s eyes snapped toward the tunnel’s far end. Robert’s eyes narrowed, and he tilted his head, as if listening for something.

There… there it was again. A faint, echoing tapping…

No…

Not tapping…

Footsteps!

Robert turned around and drew his sword just in time to see the shadow of a running figure move around the far wall.

“Halt! Identify yourself!” he called.

The shadow slowed as it drew closer until a small figure rounded the corner, their arms raised.

“Peace! Peace, humans! I come in peace!” the figure called out.

Robert narrowed his eyes at the figure of the short, muddy, and terrified cave goblin who rounded the corner, half stumbling over their own feet. Cave goblins were known to be a relativity peaceful race, unlike their surface-dwelling cousins. Well, as peaceful as a Deep Tribe could be, so Robert lowered his sword, though he didn’t sheath it just yet. Just because cave goblins weren’t known to be violent to outsiders didn’t mean they were any less capable of deceit and trickery than any other sapient race, and it always paid to be wary of strangers. Doubly so when dozens of miles under the surface and Heavens knew how far from any sort of civilization.

The cave goblin’s bulging, blood-shot eyes that darted around the tunnel, twitching at every shadow, and mud-covered garments did little to curve Robert’s weariness as well. The man looked like he’d been tossed into a mud pit and beaten with a stick.

Their hands still raised, the cave goblin yelled, half stuttering in his rush to get the words out. “Humans! Please help me! Quickly! It will be here any moment!”

Robert frowned, but it was Maggy who spoke. “Help with what? Who are you? What are you doing in these tunnels?”

The goblin’s eyes flickered down the tunnel, then back to them as sweat left muddy trails down their bark-colored skin. “There’s no time! It’s too fast, we have to hurry or —“

Oomph!

The goblin’s words were cut off as a large brown blur shot out from around the corner and slammed into the goblin, engulfing them.

Robert swiftly advanced, swinging his sword at the strange, shadowed, formless mass, only for his blade to pass through without resistance. Wide-eyed and bewildered, he staggered backward, struggling to comprehend what he was facing, until a radiant orb of light suddenly materialized near the tunnel ceiling. As the dark tunnel was illuminated, Robert observed the struggling goblin pinned to the wall, battling against a thin mat of wriggling, squirming... mud?

The sight of the goblin desperately pushing against the suffocating mud was unsettling. In that moment, Robert found himself momentarily frozen until Bert’s immense figure appeared by his side. With the swing of a fist the size of Robert’s head, a powerful wind stripped the muddy blanket from the goblin and splattered it across the nearby wall.

Gasping and coughing for air, the goblin collapsed to the ground. Maggy immediately rushed to their side, a pale white light radiating from her hands.

Meanwhile, the splattered mud on the far wall quivered, slowly reforming itself.

Garrelt flashed forward and struck out with his dagger. Instead of trying to stab the blobs of mud, however, he quickly carved an arcane symbol into the wall behind it. The rune ignited in a brilliant mana surge, causing the surrounding stone to heat rapidly. Within moments, several meters of the wall surrounding the rune glowed a vibrant orange.

When the rune finally faded, the mud no longer twitched, hardening and fusing to the still glowing stone behind it. As Robert watched, bits and pieces slowly flaked off the wall and fell to the ground.

Still uncertain what he was seeing, Robert turned to the others, his brow furrowed. “What the hell was that?!”

The other three adventurers exchanged a look and shrugged.

Garrelt bent down and poked at the baked mud falling to the ground. “It looked like a slime. But I’ve never heard of a slime made of mud.”

Bert grunted and shook his head. “I’ve never heard of slime moving like that or one staying alive after you blasted it apart.”

Robert frowned and turned to the goblin. “I hate to be pushy, Mr…” he let the question hang in the air.

The goblin coughed a few times and spit out a glob of mud. “Antchaser. You can call me Antchaser.”

Robert nodded. “Mr. Antchaser, then. Would since we seem to have a bit of time now, would you mind explaining what in the nine hells is going on?”

Hidden behind the sleeve of his jacket as he wiped his mouth clean, Antchaser grinned.